Mountain Lion to have “do not disturb” feature for notifications

Users will be able to disable OS X's new notifications to reduce distractions.

The third developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion adds a new, useful feature to the upcoming desktop version of Notification Center: "Do Not Disturb." Its inclusion may be an indicator that the next version of iOS will also have a similar feature.

Notification Center on iOS collects all notification alerts, such as new e-mails or text messages, missed calls, tweets, Words with Friends challenges, and more. Apple is bringing this same functionality to the desktop in Mountain Lion, set to ship in "late summer."

According to 9to5 Mac, the latest beta version of Mountain Lion seeded on Tuesday evening, available to registered OS X developers, adds a "Do Not Disturb" setting to Notification Center. This allows you to temporarily suspend notifications from appearing on the desktop and helps minimize distractions while working.

The feature doesn't appear to have a scheduling option, which is popular on some mobile devices like BlackBerrys; we think this would be a useful addition. Still, for those who are easily overwhelmed by notifications piling up, the feature allows a temporary respite from unread notification guilt. Hopefully Apple will bring the feature to its iOS devices, perhaps in an expected iOS 6 upgrade some time this year.